Belgium-Vietnam Friendship Association opposes China's unilateral actions in East Sea
Brussels (VNA) - President of the Belgium-Vietnam Friendship Association Pierre Grega has voiced the association's support for Vietnam as China has increasingly undertaken unilateral actions in the East Sea.
He called
on the international community to increase pressure on China to cease such unilateral actions,
which are escalating tensions in the East Sea, while quickly identifying solutions
for maritime disputes in line with international law.
Grega made
note of a series of Chinese actions that have complicated the situation in the
East Sea: a Chinese coast guard ship sinking a Vietnamese fishing boat
near Vietnam's Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago, China sending vessel Haiyang Dizhi 8 into the
exclusive economic zones of Vietnam and Malaysia, and China declaring the
establishment of “Xisha district” (Vietnam's Hoang Sa archipelago) and “Nansha district” (Vietnam's Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago) which it states are part of the so-called “Sansha city”.
These
unilateral actions, he stressed, run counter to the fundamental principles that guide
the settlement of maritime issues as well as the Declaration of the Conduct of
Parties in the East Sea (DOC), signed between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China in 2002.
They are
harmful to negotiations over a legally-binding Code of Conduct in the East Sea
(COC), Grega noted.
He also
emphasized that Vietnamese fishermen need to conduct safe
fishing activities within their country’s territorial waters and that Vietnam
wants to resolve tensions via international law, particularly the 1982 United
Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)./.